Mineralogical, Physical and Chemical Characterization of Cementitious Materials Subjected to Accelerated Decalcification by an Electro-Chemical Method

Journal article, 2014

To facilitate the service life predictions regarding durability of nuclear waste repositories acceleration methods enhancing the decalcification process are needed. In this study an electro-chemical migration method to accelerate leaching of calcium from cementitious specimens of sizes 50×100Ø and 75×50Ø mm is presented. The mineralogical, physical and chemical properties of degraded samples are characterized. The results demonstrate that up to 70% decrease in strength, 50 % decrease in E-modulus, 90 % increase in gas permeability, at least 70% increase in chloride diffusion coefficient and 70 % increase in pore volume could be expected due to leaching of portlandite from concrete.